The history of metal enrichment traced by X-ray observations of high-redshift galaxy clusters

Flores, A.; Mantz, Adam; Allen, S. W.; Morris, R. Glenn; Canning, Rebecca; Bleem, Lindsey; Calzadilla, Michael S.; Floyd, Benjamin; McDonald, Michael; Ruppin, F.

doi:10.1093/mnras/stab2430

“…• Redshift studies consistent with no evolutionary trend of abundances out to at least 𝑧 ∼ 1.5 (though with non-negligible uncertainties; Ettori et al 2015;McDonald et al 2016;Mantz et al 2017;Liu et al 2018;Flores et al 2021);…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 82%

The cycle of metals in the infalling elliptical galaxy NGC 1404

Mernier,

Werner,

Su

et al. 2022

Preprint

1

0

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Hot atmospheres pervading galaxy clusters, groups, and early-type galaxies are rich in metals, produced during epochs and diffused via processes that are still to be determined. While this enrichment has been routinely investigated in clusters, metals in lower mass systems are more challenging to probe with standard X-ray exposures and spectroscopy. In this paper, we focus on very deep XMM-Newton (∼350 ks) observations of NGC 1404, a massive elliptical galaxy experiencing ram-pressure stripping of its hot atmosphere while infalling toward the centre of the Fornax cluster, with the aim to derive abundances through its hot gas extent. Importantly, we report the existence of a new fitting bias -the "double Fe bias" -leading to an underestimate of the Fe abundance when two thermal components cannot realistically model the complex temperature structure present in the outer atmosphere of the galaxy. Contrasting with the "metal conundrum" seen in clusters, the Fe and Mg masses of NGC 1404 are measured 1-2 orders of magnitude below what stars and supernovae could have reasonably produced and released. In addition, we note the remarkable Solar abundance ratios of the galaxy's halo, different from its stellar counterpart but similar to the chemical composition of the ICM of rich clusters. Completing the clusters regime, all these findings provide additional support toward a scenario of early enrichment, at play over two orders of magnitude in mass. A few peculiar and intriguing features, such as a possible double metal peak as well as an apparent ring of enhanced Si near the galaxy core, are also discussed.

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“…This is visible in Fig. 8, which reports the results from cosmological simulations by Biffi et al [7] and Vogelsberger et al [90] for the global cluster region within R 500 , compared with the compilation of observational data presented by Flores et al [25] for the cluster outskirts, at 0 < z 2. The core enrichment level also shows no significant evolution in simulated clusters, suggesting that the mild trend observed in real systems could rather be driven by the evolution of the cool-core population, as discussed by Ettori et al [22].…”

Section: Redshift Evolution Of the Chemical Enrichmentmentioning

confidence: 52%

“…Fig. 8 Redshift evolution of cluster metallicities, as seen by recent observations [25] and as predicted by cosmological simulations -Dianoga [7] and IllustrisTNG [90]. Metallicities are all expressed in units of A09.…”

Section: Understanding Stellar Physics From Metals In the Icmmentioning

confidence: 71%

“…At larger cluster-centric distances the enrichment level is observed to be nearly constant with time. Recent investigations by Flores et al [25] of deep XMM-Newton observations of 10 massive galaxy clusters at redshifts 1.05 < z < 1.71 further confirmed this picture. They reported an average metallicity in the 0.3 < r/R 500 < 1 radial range, about 0.21 ± 0.09 solar (in units of A09), which is consistent, albeit slightly lower than, the average outskirt metallicity of low-redshift clusters.…”

Section: Redshift Evolution Of the Chemical Enrichmentmentioning

confidence: 81%

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Chemical enrichment in groups and clusters

Mernier¹,

Biffi²

2022

Preprint

0

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As building blocks of dust, rocky planets, and even complex life, the chemical elements heavier than hydrogen (H) and helium (He) -called "metals" in astronomy -play an essential role in our Universe and its evolution. Up to Fe and Ni, these metals are known to be created by stars and stellar remnants via nuclear fusion and to be ejected into their immediate surroundings to enrich new stellar generations. A spectacular finding, however, is that these processed elements are found even outside stellar systems, in particular in the hot, X-ray atmospheres surrounding early-type galaxies and pervading galaxy clusters and groups. These large-scales structures are thus a remarkable fossil record of the integrated history of the enrichment of our Universe. In this Chapter, we briefly discuss the chemical properties of this intracluster -or intragroup -medium (ICM). After introducing the concept of chemical abundances, and recalling which stellar sources produce which elements, we review the method to derive abundance measurements from observations of the ICM and detail some chemical models implemented in numerical hydrodynamical simulations of cosmic structures. In particular, we explore how synergies between X-ray observations and numerical simulations help us to understand (i) the cosmic epoch at which the bulk of the enrichment occurred, (ii) the physics of these stellar sources responsible for this enrichment, and (iii) the main mechanisms responsible for metal diffusion and mixing outside galaxies.

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“…Cluster metallicity is typically constrained by the highly ionized Fe K-shell lines in X-ray spectra of the ICM, but it is poorly constrained in our fits, given the high redshift of SPT0607. Thus, we fixed the metallicity at Z = 0.3 Z e , motivated by detailed low-redshift studies, which find that the average cluster metallicity is roughly a third of the solar value (e.g., Mushotzky & Loewenstein 1997;De Grandi & Molendi 2001;Urban et al 2017), as well as recent metallicity evolution studies, which show little evolution in the cluster metallicity out to z ∼ 1 (e.g., McDonald et al 2016a;Flores et al 2021). The ICM metallicity has been shown to have a weak dependence on temperature (e.g., Fukazawa et al 1998), and hence this choice likely has little impact on our measured global temperature.…”

Section: Global Temperature Measurementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for AGN-regulated Cooling in Clusters at z ∼ 1.4: A Multiwavelength View of SPT-CL J0607-4448

Masterson

¹

,

McDonald

²

,

Ansarinejad

³

et al. 2023

ApJ

Self Cite

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We present a multiwavelength analysis of the galaxy cluster SPT-CL J0607-4448 (SPT0607), which is one of the most distant clusters discovered by the South Pole Telescope at z = 1.4010 ± 0.0028. The high-redshift cluster shows clear signs of being relaxed with well-regulated feedback from the active galactic nucleus (AGN) in the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG). Using Chandra X-ray data, we construct thermodynamic profiles and determine the properties of the intracluster medium. The cool-core nature of the cluster is supported by a centrally peaked density profile and low central entropy ( K 0 = 18 − 9 + 11 keV cm2), which we estimate assuming an isothermal temperature profile due to the limited spectral information given the distance to the cluster. Using the density profile and gas cooling time inferred from the X-ray data, we find a mass-cooling rate M ̇ cool = 100 − 60 + 90 M ⊙ yr−1. From optical spectroscopy and photometry around the [O ii] emission line, we estimate that the BCG star formation rate is SFR [ O II ] = 1.7 − 0.6 + 1.0 M ⊙ yr−1, roughly two orders of magnitude lower than the predicted mass-cooling rate. In addition, using ATCA radio data at 2.1 GHz, we measure a radio jet power P cav = 3.2 − 1.3 + 2.1 × 10 44 erg s−1, which is consistent with the X-ray cooling luminosity ( L cool = 1.9 − 0.5 + 0.2 × 10 44 erg s−1 within r cool = 43 kpc). These findings suggest that SPT0607 is a relaxed, cool-core cluster with AGN-regulated cooling at an epoch shortly after cluster formation, implying that the balance between cooling and feedback can be reached quickly. We discuss the implications for these findings on the evolution of AGN feedback in galaxy clusters.

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The history of metal enrichment traced by X-ray observations of high-redshift galaxy clusters

Cited by 11 publications

References 52 publications

The cycle of metals in the infalling elliptical galaxy NGC 1404

The cycle of metals in the infalling elliptical galaxy NGC 1404

Chemical enrichment in groups and clusters

Evidence for AGN-regulated Cooling in Clusters at z ∼ 1.4: A Multiwavelength View of SPT-CL J0607-4448

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